Petrol Price Reduced - Thursday Nov 15,2012

 

Petrol price was on Thursday cut by 95 paise per litre, the second reduction in rates since October, on account of fall in international oil prices

 

Petrol price in Mumbai has been reduced by Rs 1.20 per litre to Rs 73.53, while it will cost Rs 70.57 a litre in Chennai from Friday instead of Rs 71.77 a litre currently. In Kolkata, the price has been cut by Rs 1.19 to Rs 74.55 per litre

The last reduction in petrol price before this was the 56-paise cut to Rs 67.90 a litre on October 9. Thereafter, the rate was hiked by 29 paise following government decision to raise the commission paid to petrol pump dealers.

The government had in June 2010 deregulated petrol prices giving oil companies freedom to fix rates in line with the cost. However, prices have seldom moved in line with cost and oil companies buckled under political pressure to keep rates checked to help the government manage inflation.

IOC said oil firms were losing Rs 9.84 a litre on diesel, Rs 31.30 a litre on kerosene sold through PDS and Rs 478.50 per 14.2-kg cooking gas cylinder supplied to households.  

IOC and other state retailers, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, lost over Rs 2,000 crore on selling petrol below cost during the first six months of current fiscal 2012-13.